In His Arms
by PhOenIxJaDeBLaCK
Summary: They were lost, people kept shooting at them and someone wanted her dead
1. Chapter 1

Hi, I own nothing of S. Myers, or Suzanne McMinn.

Happy reading, and even if you don't like it please review.

Prologue…..

_They were lost, people kept shooting at them, and someone wanted her dead._...

Bella worked really hard at _not_ having a full blown panic attack.

"Its dark," Jake said flatly. " if we keep driving around, we're going to run out of gas before we find our way out of here. Let's wait for morning and hole up."

Hole up? Was this really her life, or one big freaky nightmare? This morning she had just been Isabella Marie Clearwater, reclusive widow. Tonight she was the target of multiple killers for reasons she didn't understand, and on the run with a sexy federal agent who was scaring the pants off her, _literally._

She had been shot at 3 separate times, she couldn't go home, and she had the audacity to think "_sex"_ every time she looked at Jacob Black.

She was stuck in a car, in the middle of nowhere till morning, with 6'6" ft of big bad sexy male.

Some women would label that as that last bit lucky. Bella found it terrifying.


	2. Chapter 2

Once again I own none of S Myers, or S McMinn

This isn't my first fanfic but I hope you like it or at least try it out. Review if you want, at least let me know if you want more. This is all for Jacobs pov, for now. The next chapter it will change.

Chapter 1

_Step down from the bench in seventy-two hours or the little girls dies._

U.S. Marshal Jacob Black ran his hands over the rough stubble of his face. It had already been twelve hours since federal judge's six year old granddaughter had been discovered missing.

She disappeared on Jacob's watch.

The threatening message had arrived in the judge's inbox an hour later, time stamped 7:21a.m. eastern standard and all the forces of federal law enforcement were hard at work attempting to unscramble its path, they would fail. The nascent technology of the heavily encrypted e mail bypassed central servers and would automatically erase itself in a matter of hours- destroying along with it all evidence of its origin. It was as close to fool proof as we had ever seen.

"You're supposed to be out of here already". Jacob pivoted in his seat to find the head of the Forks judicial security division watching him with expressionless eyes honed from his military special ops background. "Go home," Sam Tucker said. "get some rest, it will do you a world of good." " im not tired." this isn't your case anymore Jake, accept it cause that is the way that it is." Sam was now in charge of the direct supervision of this case. Jacob attempted to tell Sam where he could stick his case and his pseudo sympathy.

Claire was more than a case, she was a human being and he came to care for her more then he meant to. She reminded him to much of what he lost, and this wasn't about him, it was about Claire. Kidnappers rarely returned there victims, and the judge had a recent history of deadly intimidations against him that was believed to include the bombing of a small plane and the death of a federal agent. "Go home", Sam repeated. " Seventy two hours" Jake said, " So you want me to what go home and act like nothing happen just cause you decided that I was to close to the case?" " Just go home Jake, this isn't for you anymore." did they just think he would go home and suck his thumb, like a little child being dismissed?, this was about Claire and she only had 60 hours left. Sam Tucker knew when to keep his mouth shut. They were no platitudes to ease the awful fact that a man who killed a plane full of 34 innocent people wouldn't hesitate to kill one more.

"we are doing everything we can," Jake said, speaking the platitude for the commander. He heard the emotion he'd sworn to control come out in his voice. "Except not"

The bitterness stung deeply, he didn't agree with the media blackout out regarding Claire's kidnapping. " go home and go to bed, you have 5 minutes before you are escorted out of the building", Sam said flatly.

Tough love, that is what he said when he dismissed Jacob from the case, more then that, sent on forced leave. Jacob had taken the case too personally and become too emotionally involved. According to Sam, this made him a danger to the other agents and even to Claire. He didn't agree but he also didn't get to choose.

Jacob left the building with nothing, the truth is was that he didn't have personal belongings at the office. Much like his apartment, he thought as he parked his car and got out. His apartment was cold, with an overhanging sense of emptiness despite being furnished. He looked at the photo of a smiling bubble blowing 5 year old Lizzie on the mantel over the fireplace where he never even burned a log. Frozen in time, weeks before his daughter had died. Innocent, with her life shining before her and nothing. Six months later his marriage fell apart. He wasn't able to save Lizzie not even a chance, but Claire, it wasn't too late and there was no way he was walking away.

Nobody knew who wanted judge Reinhold off the bench, it could be for revenge of an old case or something to prevent a new one coming before him. It was possible that it was all intimidation against the judge and was related to the Seattle mafia infiltration of Washington and the attempts to nail the ring leader. The judge dealt with search warrants wire taps, secret grand jury testimony.

Stacks of files littered the table and none of the materials were classified. They were mostly notes in his own hand, ideas, theories and questions and clippings all having to do with the mafia. The more and more he poured over his notes the more he realized that nothing could stand in his way. The bottom of the list contained notes and clippings from the plane explosion, it had been a dramatic deadly act. Suspicions had centered around Alcee Reinhold, who hadn't made the flight. Unfortunately the agent that assigned to him had. If the bombing was intended for the judge, the marshals' couldn't prove it. They only knew that the perpetrator had access to the plane and had probably masqueraded as a member of the construction staff and had used a stolen ID. The bomb had been planted in the twin engines cargo hold. Agents poured over the security tapes looking for the face of the killer. Jacob sat in the growing dusk of his apt staring at the pile related to the attacks' on flight 498. There was nothing new, except his level of desperation. Something wasn't right and he knew it. He grabbed the phone off the side table and dialed tucker.

" Black here, I want to know what came out of the interview with the psychic," he clipped out. Impatient, hell ya. "What?" " That psychic from Forks who called the airport, the one that said flight 498 was going to explode, there was a tracking ID from the reporter but I never received the file."" Get some sleep Black, I wont tell you again." " Did anyone actually talk to Bella Clearwater?" " Yes, we talked to her, dammit Black, do you not see-" "What was the outcome?"

" She was a hysterical wife!Get a grip, her husband was taking that flight, she admitted that she was afraid of flying herself, do you know how many crank call the airport gets a day?, She's a whack job and she didn't have anything to do with the bombing. We checked her out, now get some sleep!" _Click… _The grainy photo in the paper showed a slender dark haired women with grieving eyes. She looked lost, even in the crowd of mourners photographed that day at the airport. Her eyes hit the camera dead on and there was nothing hysterical about them not even shock.

"You remember what they said about Forks after that quake," Jake said, and even as he spoke the words he felt foolish. The tiny town of Forks had bee hit with a quake the year before and the aftermath included a media circus of claim about paranormal activity. Residents say they saw sparks of red lights and a ball of pure energy and a red haze in the air. Fire trucks were sent but there was no fire to been seen. They ended up call the quake, in a combination of low pressure and dense moisture at the time. Following the kidnapping, he returned to headquarters and request the files on all the interview out comes of the bombing, he got them all but the one on Bella Clearwater, the psychic from Forks. This evening he had requested it and 20 minutes later been suspended. " Do you hear yourself talking Black?", Yeah I do", Jacob was silent for a heavy beat, feeling the gut itching something wasn't right . He heard a very subtle click on the other end of the phone,…..wiretapped. His pulse was dead still. He held the phone away from his ear yet he could still hear Sam telling him he was crazy. He used his pocket knife to quickly take apart the bottom of the phone and found the tiny listening device. Back to the phone he snapped" DID YOU WIRE MY PHONE?" " What the hell are you talking about now?" Jake punched the off button. Either the commander was lying or someone else had wired his phone. He dropped everything and ran out of his house, how had it never occurred to him that the perpetrator of the bombing and kidnapping could be one of his own team.

He raced back to the station breaking all the laws, he pulled in happy that security was not around and snuck to his office. The lights were off and his name off the door, thank God that the locks hadn't been changed and that the desk top was still intact. He quickly typed in Bella Clearwater's name and did a search, there was nothing there. No interview report file, no tracking number and the ID had been used just hours earlier. The screen went abruptly black and bright green letters appeared: _You are attempting to access an unapproved area._ the hairs prickled at the nape of his neck, the network had just tracked and his access been cut off for somewhere inside the building. The scraped the back of his chair and headed toward the empty hall of the building. Someone opened the fire exit and he heard the audible rush of a bullet whiz by his ear. Blood pounded in his ears as he evaded and fired back. He fired in the direction of the blast in the same second he took the steps two at a time reaching the underground parking. The guard at the gate reached for his phone in the booth. Reaching the gate, he had his window down and gun out before the guard could speak or draw, " Open the Gate", and he was thru. For the first time since he heard the shot his hands shook, no internal alarm had gone off in the building and he had been shot at inside headquarters, he shut down all emotion as his Impala sped down the maze of dark streets. He'd gotten away clean but there was no way he could go home. He had a really bad feeling that whoever had shot at him had no need to follow, all he could do now was hope. Pulling a gun on the guard made him a wanted man. Armed and dangerous, he fellow marshals would be ordered to shoot to kill, his life had just taken the value of scum lower then dirt. Claire's life was on the line, his own was only as important in that context as was , now, Bella Clearwater. He sped up as the he reached I-79 South, Forks 22 miles.


	3. Chapter 3

Once again I have to give credit to Smyers and S McMillan.

Hope you like this chapter. Let me know if you confused at all. This chapter introduces Bella and starts the interaction between Jacob and Bella. 

**S**omebody was going to get into that impala tonight and have sex. That somebody was going to be her. For one wild panicky breath, Bella Clearwater wanted that fevered dream of delicious lust that hit her with a flash of perception to be real. _Hot ripples scorching her skin, his fingers teasing inside of her. Her muscles clenching around him. Her voice, sobbing at the shock wave of pure pleasure…._

No, no, no….she blocked the sensory images assaulting her so hard that her knees nearly collapsed under her.

The man getting out of said Impala that had pulled into the parking lot next to her car was , tall, built, effortlessly sexy. She bet that he was just as good with his hands as she imagined. It was all she could do to not stare at his ropey-sinewy body and go right back to fantasy land. And it _was_ a fantasy, not a projection of soon to be reality.

First off she was hardly Miss America, and despite the see all way his gaze pinned her, she didn't have a history of come-ons by rugged , sexy, impossibly erotic strangers in parking lots as if she was living out some kind if _True Confessions_ story line.

Second, she was crazy….certifiable, wasn't she? The cacophony of uncomfortable intuitive flashes that had taken over her life made her feel like a satellite picking up too many signals-most of which were likely products of her ridiculous imagination. Maybe someone was going to get lucky in that Impala tonight but it wasn't her. She hadn't gotten lucky in a long time, not that she cared any….right? Bella diverted her gaze from the man now standing in front of her, she felt the man grab her arm. "Are you alright?" No not really, not at all. She refused to meet his eyes, stared down at the lean muscular chest of the oh so sexy stranger, even his voice was sexy, as she felt something wet between her legs, something that she hadn't felt since Seth. Wow, he moved fast, not that the parking lot was huge. Forks had one tiny grocery store and just had one row of parking in the front and another along the side, the fact that this was the biggest store in town said a lot for the community. It served as everything from a grocery store to a hardware store to a feed store, not to mention a fast food deli, movie rental and community gossip hub. "I said , are you alright?" he repeated. "I am fine thank you, one if you will please excuse me." He let go of her arm bad she ran, actually ran, around the side of the building into the store, her heart hammered like mad. She needed cinnamon not sex. Baking, she loved baking, baking was normal. She just wanted things to go back to normal, not that they ever were before. Course crazy was the new black. She was half polish half Italian, and she had been married to a Quileute Irish man. What did people expect from her anyway? 

It was nearly closing time as she raced through the store a grabbed the small jar of cinnamon, some flour and a bag of apples, and headed to the checkout. No wait, she needed ice-cream and lots of it. She picked a gallon of vanilla bean from the freezer case, juggling it with her other items. "looks like someone is making something good tonight , said the checker as she rang up the items. " I wish I was going to your house tonight, yummy." Bella tugged a ten out of her wallet and handed the bill to the girl behind the register, she looked like she was about nineteen. Bella had never seen her before and wondered if they had just hired her. She wondered if Kim had hired her.. She turned around to see her friend Kim coming around the corner. The girl handed back Bella her change and as there hands met, Bella felt the familiar feeling of electricity jolt her. Bella met the girls eyes as she held the now hot change. She was a pretty girl, with bright blue eyes and she was going to get fired tomorrow for stealing. "Hey", Kim said, reaching the checkout, "I thought that was you whizzing thru the store, not planning to stop by and say hi to your best friend?", " Kim I am so sorry, I was just in a hurry tonight and you looked busy in the office so I did not want to bother you." " Wow, was that two excuses for the price of one?". Bella looked away from her friends now piercing eyes. " I was thinking that we should get together and go shopping or something, I hardly see you". " I cant," Bella said all to quickly, " I'm sorry". 

She thought about telling Kim that her checker was going to get caught stealing, but she would find that out tomorrow, right? Just like the librarian was going to find out that she was pregnant and somebody was going to get into that Impala to have some super fabulous sex tonight. Or maybe Bella was just crazy like everybody said. Either way keeping her lip zipped seemed like a good idea. Even if Kim was the only person in forks who might, just might not call her crazy. Bella knew that Kim herself had kept her own experiences after the earthquake close to the vest, even if she had shared one of the experiences with Bella. Or maybe it was Bella who didn't want to talk about it and was projecting it wrongly. A piano teacher by trade, shed spent ten years hobbling as a pretend psychic at community fairs and school carnivals. Until the earthquake had changed everything. The real thing wasn't as much fun. And what was the point since nobody believed her anyway. People thought she was crazy thanks to the media circus surrounding her husbands death, called her for the "psychic" services she no longer offered. She gave Kim a quick hug. " I am sorry, I got to go, I will call you later, ok?" "No you wont", Kim called after her. No she probably wouldn't. the man was still there, leaning between there cars. She walked between the cars to her drivers side door, juggling the packages along with her keys. " I am sorry about your husband." She dropped her bag of apples. "What?" she stared at him over the top of the car. It had been nine months since Seth had died. She was used to sympathetic platitudes, even from strangers, but how did this stranger even know who she was…. She had never seen him before the vision tonight, she was certain of that. " I know how it feels to lose someone, and I know you know how it feels , too." " How did you¾ she broke off, stared at him again. A floodlight on the building reveled his features. Square jaw, intensely jade brown eyes, planed cheeks, a full straight lean mouth, dark thick almost military short hair. How could she forget him if she even met him before today?

He was the epitome of hot, his mile long legs clad in worn blue jeans and a plain whit t shirt, untucked yet stretching over impressive Pecs and reveling. tightly muscled arms. His stance was lazy, like a coiled cat. He wore the bearing of a man who could do nothing and anything. Leap tall buildings in a single bound, for example. Action material for sure. He belonged on a movie poster with curling flames in the backdrop. Any women who got into that impala with him would be a lucky women indeed. She felt jittery and sweaty all at the same time. It took everything in her body to block the sensory assault again. Heavens could she be more lame? Fantasizing about a stranger in a parking lot.. Stranger danger that's what he was, for sure. And although he looked street wise dangerous almost ridiculously gorgeous, like a long sharp knife. Nope she didn't need any of that today. Bella struggled to get her breathing under control. " How do you know me?" she asked, repeating the questions she had only managed to get half out before. 

"I lost a friend on flight 498." Could they have crossed paths that day? wouldn't she have remembered?. She'd known everyone, in her mind. Lots of people she knew were scared of flying. But just because she had a severe and highly imaginative panic attack the day that her husband had gotten onto one, and just because his plane had actually ended up blowing up, didn't mean she was a real psychic. It just meant that she was a hysterical wife. Coincidence and nothing more. It was safer to think that way. She had been scared to read anything about the crash victims later, crazy that's what she was. No need to confirm it. And if the victims who had matched up to those whose lives had flashed before her eyes that day…she didn't want to know it either.

" How do you know me?" Bella repeated warily. "I went to your house but you were leaving. I followed you here, we need to talk." Her throat completely closed up. _screw the apples just get in the car and drive away. Her pulse thumped and she had trouble thinking._ Was he stalking her? What if he followed her home? Wild possibilities tumbled through her mind, she was bordering hysteria. "I need your help," he continued. "and you don't know it yet, but you need mine. We don't have much time. " "What?, I cant help you." " I think you can and I think that you are in danger." Yes yes so did she, from him. He was gorgeous but a lunatic, very sad for the women of the world. Whatta waste of flesh. She had to get away and now, she could go back in the store and call for Kim, yes, that is what she will do. " I- I have to go back in the store, I forgot something." " No", _No?_ her heart jumped with both feet in her throat when he set the apples down on top of her car. Relief soaked through her as another car pilled into the now empty lot. She was saved, thank god. The dark car screeched to a stop and a window rolled down. Next thing Bella knew she was knocked down and bullets sprayed as the world rocked in slow motion. She screamed.


End file.
